Astrognome A-Z of Constellations # 29 Crater

Crater the Cup - Spring Sky

The second of the small constellations adjoining Hydra the other being Corvus. Crater although very faint it is one of the original 48 groups even though it contains no stars brighter than magnitude 3.5.

Crater represents the cup of Apollo and is associated with the neighbouring constellation of Corvus.

There are only stars that can be easily seen these are delta, alpha and gamma.

Delta is a magnitude 3.6 K0 orange giant star, lying 163 light years away.

Alpha at magnitude 4.1 is 141 light years away and is an orange K1 class giant.

Gamma is a magnitude 4.1 star A9 class star, at a distance of 86 light years.